August 2016 . Vol.2/Issue 11 ~ Hope: Great Expectations and Quiet Desires

August 15, 2016

“to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you’ve held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.”
© Ellen Bass

In this issue our writers touch on many aspects of hope and its flip-side grief, sometimes head on and sometimes by a thread. In our lead features, Corina Ravenscraft urges us to act without expectation, to take life as it comes and Priscilla Galasso encourages us to do the work so that our hopes and dreams honor our true selves. In “You Just Never Know,” Naomi Baltuck gives us a fable about hope, perseverance and the unexpected.

Life, love, hope and dreams are explored from different perspectives by our poets, often from the perspective of the hopes we cling to despite wars and abuse. For the later see especially the Landays of Pashtun women in “I will die with a heart full of hope” and the poems of Imen Benyoub and Jenean Gilstrap. In “Ashen” k. writes about the quiet desire of a husband to stay connected to his wife who has died. In Hollie McNish’s poem, “Embarrassed,” she hopes – argues for – a society that gets past its nonsensical and puritanical attitudes toward breastfeeding. Renee Espriu speaks simply of hope and family in her poem “Eucalyptus Trees.” With Hélène Cardona’s “Life in Suspension” she trusts “the ripeness of the moment.”  No stress. No strain. Luke Prater writes about the sacred moments and …

“When I knew mine was the life needed saving,
however seemingly insurmountable: this
is not an easy fade-to-black halfway home.”

With all our advice and encouragement, it’s never easy and we all need saving.

Jenean Gilstap and Hélène Cardona are new to our pages, and we are proud to introduce their work to you. Please be sure to check out their bios and Renee’s and Luke’s. This is not Renee’s or Luke’s first time here, but its been a while and we are delighted to welcome them back.

Terri Muuss is featured this month with her editorial, “For or Against,” wherein she clarifies the misconceptions and misunderstandings that arise from our communications in social media.

Enjoy!

In the spirit of peace, love and community,
for The Bardo Group Beguines,
Jamie Dedes
Managing Editor

BeATTITUDES
(Editorial)

For or Against, Terri Muss

HOPE: Great Expectations and Quiet Desires

Lead Features

Life on Life’s Terms, Corina Ravenscraft
Dream What You Will and Will What You Dream, Priscilla Galasso
You Just Never Know, Naomi Baltuck

Special Feature

I will die with a heartful of hope, the Landays of Pashtun women

Poetry

This Peaceful Morning in Wartime, Imen Benyoub

Life in Suspension, Hélène Cardona
Ouranoupolis Pantoum, Hélène Cardona
To Kitty, Who Loved the Sea and Somerset Maugham, Hélène Cardona

from their prison of lost hope, Jamie Dedes
after the injera, the wat, the niter kibby, Jamie Dedes

Eucalyptus Trees, Renee Espriu

my name is huda, Jenean Gilstrap

Sacred Moments, Luke Prater

CONNECT WITH US

Daily Spiritual Practice, Beguine Again

Facebook, The Bardo Group Beguines

Twitter, The Bardo Group Beguines

Access to the biographies of our core team, contributing writers and guest writers is in the blogroll where you can also find links to archived issues of The BeZine (currently in the process of updating), our Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines.